Lisa Taraki is a sociologist and co-editor of the Jerusalem Quarterly. Her current research interests lie in Arab and Palestinian urban social history and contemporary social and class dynamics. Her work, some of which has been published by the Institute for Palestine Studies, has focused on the Palestinian national movement, Islamist politics, Palestinian urban social history, the Palestinian urban middle class, and class dynamics of the most recent Palestinian uprising.
Taraki has had the opportunity to take part in the building of a leading Palestinian institution, Birzeit University, in several capacities, including teaching, research and academic administration, beginning in 1976. She has also been involved in the work of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and several Palestinian institutions, including al-Haq, Ramallah Municipality, and the Institute for Palestine Studies.